


Love Was Never Any Blessing

by smaragdbird



Category: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Canon Compliant, Falling In Love, M/M, Soulmate-Identifying Marks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-24
Updated: 2017-02-24
Packaged: 2018-09-26 13:50:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,863
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9901112
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/smaragdbird/pseuds/smaragdbird
Summary: In a world where you wear the first words your soulmate says to you on your skin, Galen is both disappointed and relieved that neither Krennic nor Lyra were his soulmates since he lost them both one way or another.But he also hadn't expected that his soulmate would turn out to be the much younger, drenched to the bone and dead tired and hungry looking cargo pilot who timidly asked him if this was the right line to get food.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Written for [this ](http://rogueonekink.dreamwidth.org/1084.html?thread=442940#cmt442940) prompt

“Sorry, is this the right line for the food?” it was such a mundane sentence, so painfully everyday and yet no one had ever asked Galen this question in specifically those words. And at the age of fifty-three he had mostly given up on ever meeting his soulmate. Because even if he did, what was the point? He was a prisoner of the Empire and finding his soulmate would only give Krennic more power over him. 

Once upon a time Galen had been disappointed that his soulmate hadn’t been Krennic. When he had still called him Orson, when their minds had been so in sync with each other, it had seemed impossible to Galen that Orson couldn’t be his soulmate. They had complimented each other’s strengths and weaknesses, had stayed up nights after nights to discuss theorems, designs, ideas so advanced they would’ve brought the galaxy to its knees.

Galen would like to blame the Empire for their falling out but he knew that it wasn’t true. They had always had different goals. For Galen knowledge was satisfying on its own. But for Orson it had been a means to an end, a way to become more powerful, more influential.

He didn’t know who Krennic’s soulmate was or if he had ever found them but he didn’t seem like the kind of man who would let someone else have that kind of power over him.

Lyra hadn’t been his soulmate either. But that didn’t mean he had loved her anything less. She had been remarkable, had challenged his assumptions again and again. They had met when she had led his group through a cave full of Kyber crystals on Dantoine. 

She had never spoken of her soulmate and Galen had never asked. The words on her wrist hadn’t faded so Lyra’s soulmate had been still alive but even before the Clone Wars and before the Empire there had been more than enough strife in the galaxy to split people apart, even those who were joined at the soul.

Galen had often wished to be Lyra’s soulmate. He had loved her so much, loved Jyn so much that he didn’t want there to be anyone else. 

Now though he wasn’t sure if he would’ve been able to do what he did if Lyra really had been his soulmate. Would he have had the strength to go on after Krennic had murdered her? Galen didn’t think so. He had been barely able to move on and only the thought of Jyn had kept him alive. He didn’t want to have his daughter live under the threat of such a terrible weapon.

/

“Yes, yes it is.” Ever since he had understood the implications of the words on his wrist, Bodhi had been slightly annoyed by them. They were so non-specific that half a dozen time at least he had thought he had found his soulmate only for it to turn out not to be true. Or maybe he had already met them. The words were clearly the answer to a question he had asked. Maybe his soulmate had taken a look at him and decided that they didn’t want him.

Since he had started working for the Empire Bodhi wasn’t even sure if he could blame them. His mother and his sister hadn’t wanted him either after his decision. They thought he had betrayed them, betrayed Jedha for a steady job and a chance to get off planet. Bodhi couldn’t even tell them they were wrong. There were few jobs on Jedha outside the Empire and less chances to leave. 

For one semester at the flight academy he had even dreamed of becoming a TIE fighter pilot but his nerves usually got the better of him during flying and his average grades hadn’t helped either. But being a cargo pilot wasn’t the worst job either. He got to see something of the galaxy, he got along with his colleagues and he was actually decent at his job with a reputation for being reliable.

For the next three years he fostered the hope that maybe he hadn’t met his soulmate yet after all. Maybe he still had a chance at finding happiness. 

Then he had gotten the security clearance to fly cargo to Eadu from Jedha and he had been confronted first hand with the atrocities the Empire committed. On other planets he had never stayed long and he had never looked too closely at what the Empire was doing there. But on Jedha that was different. He knew where the Kyber crystals came from, knew they had to be robbed from the temples, knew that he was complicit in the exploitation of his home planet.

He wouldn’t want himself as a soulmate either.

/

Galen was always relieved when Krennic left Eadu again. He had a tendency to linger around Galen as if some part of him thought they could salvage their friendship. If he could have Galen would’ve laughed in his face and told him how absurd that notion was.

But now he was gone and hopefully the construction problems on the Death Star would keep him occupied for a while before he came back to harass Galen again.

Krennic always insisted on private dinners but now Galen was finally back in the mess hall with everyone else on Eadu. There were a couple new faces and he remembered Krennic saying something about new cargo pilots coming in since they had lost quite a few in the rebel attacks on Kyber shipments on Eadu.

“Sorry”, Galen turned around. The man who had spoken was wearing an Imperial flight suit and he looked dead tired, hungry and drenched to the bone. Undoubtly one of the new cargo pilots. “Is this the right line for the food?”

Galen’s heart skipped a beat but he still forced himself to answer, “Yes, yes it is.”

The pilot’s eyes widened and suddenly alert he looked up at Galen. Galen couldn’t help but stare back. The pilot’s eyes were very dark and very beautiful but after all this time…it couldn’t be.

“Move!” Someone yelled further down the line and Galen stepped forwards to fill the gap in the line with the pilot following him.

“I’m Bodhi, Bodhi Rook”, the pilot said, “I’m one of the new cargo pilots.”

“I’m Galen Erso, it’s nice to meet you Bodhi.” Galen offered his hand and Bodhi took it. His hand was clammy and he had probably spent too much time out in the rain. “How do you like Eadu so far?”

“It’s very…wet?” Bodhi looked as if he wasn’t quite sure that had been the right answer but Galen grinned.

“It’s good you’re being honest. Most people lie and say it’s fine, except for the one Nautolan we had. He always said it was a bit dry.”

His comment startled a smile out of Bodhi and Galen was in awe of how attractive he was. 

They got their food and sat down together. Bodhi dug in clearly starved. “This is much better than the food we usually get”, he said after having cleared half his plate.

“There have to be perks to getting a level 3 security clearance”, Galen replied. “Did they assign you a bunk yet?”

Bodhi nodded. “Somewhere with the TIE pilots I think. I’m not sure I’m going to find that. I might just sleep in the shuttle.”

“I could show you the way”, Galen offered. He let his sleeve get caught on the edge of the table so that his wrist was free when he laid his arm down. He watched as Bodhi’s eyes flickered to the words written on his skin and his eyes widened slightly. 

Bodhi pushed up his own sleeve slightly and Galen could see that the words matched. It was the exact same words they had first said to each other. “I’d like that.”

The look Bodhi gave him was so full of hope it broke Galen’s heart. Because he already knew it could not end well. 

/

Being Galen’s soulmate was nothing like Bodhi had imagined. Galen had already lived an entire life, had had a wife and daughter and was essentially being held hostage by the Empire. The same Empire Bodhi had volunteered to work for. The same Empire that was ravaging his home planet for Kyber crystals. Galen obviously knew what they were being used for but Bodhi didn’t ask. He didn’t think he wanted to know.

They invented a system to let each other know if it was safe to interact. Krennic couldn’t know about them under any circumstances. He would’ve used Bodhi as leverage as he had planned to use Lyra and Jyn.

That was the worst sometimes, sitting in the mess hall only a few tables away from Galen had having to pretend that they didn’t know each other, not even looking at him apart from a few stray glances across the entire room.

But there were good memories too; Galen pulling him into a corner after they hadn’t been able to see each other for months and kissing him like he was starving; basking in the rare sunshine together; the first time they had slept together and Galen looking him in the eyes and saying, “If I saw you every day, Bodhi, I would remember this time.” It just was never enough.

Bodhi didn’t notice Galen was trying to get his attention until Galen touched him. “Bodhi?”

“Sorry”, Bodhi replied and raked a hand through his hair. Here in the privacy of Galen’s room and with Krennic hopefully on the other side of the galaxy it was as safe for them to be together as it ever was.

“What is it, love?” Galen asked, stroking Bodhi’s arm. They were lying in bed together, pressed against each other in the narrow confines of Galen’s bunk.

“Just something one of the other pilots said”, Bodhi replied. Galen said nothing, instead waiting for him to find his own words. Bodhi liked that about him. Even though they had so little of it, Galen still gave him time. “There was another attack on Jedha. And I wondered why the Empire would bother with it when there are planets where Kyber occurs naturally like Ilum or Dantooine. And Bis, he said he’s been flying to both of those planets and they’re both depleted.”

Before he had even finished Bodhi could feel the tension in Galen’s body. They had never talked about his work, never talked about all those Kyber crystals that were being brought to Eadu. Partly because Bodhi hadn’t wanted to ask and partly because he hadn’t wanted to know the answer.

“If you want to know what we’re doing there, Bodhi, all you have to do is ask”, Galen said.

“Do I want to know?” Bodhi joked weakly.

“No, probably not”, Galen replied. “I wish I didn’t know.”

He was, Bodhi thought once Galen had told him, absolutely right. Something so monstrous should be unthinkable, it should be unable to exist much less be build and in the final stages of completion. And here they were, both complicit in its existence in their own ways. Maybe that was why they were soulmates.

**Author's Note:**

> Find me [ here](http://smaragdbird.tumblr.com/) on tumblr


End file.
